Once a Mistress (18 page)

She inhaled sharply as familiar stirrings awakened in her body, bringing memories of the pleasures discovered the night before. “What are you doing?”

“You know what I’m doing.” His breath swept over her throat as he nuzzled her neck.

She
did
know. She leaned back against him, very conscious of the bed only a few feet away. He dropped the cloth and slid his hand around her waist.

“Isn’t it early for this?” she asked, her pulse racing.

He chuckled. “You don’t like it?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“I can see there are some ways in which you are still innocent, my sweet.” Alex turned her around to face him, a teasing grin on his face. “One can make love before the sun sets, you know.”

She blushed. He threw back his head and laughed, then hugged her tightly. “Don’t laugh at me,” she muttered into his shirt.

“I laugh with delight.” He kissed the top of her head. “Unfortunately, there is no time to advance your education. We have arrived at Besosa.”

“Your home.”

“Yes. I think you will like it here.”

“I’m sure I will.” She nuzzled her face into his chest. “Though we will not be here for very long. You said it should only take a day or so to repair the ship.”

“Yes.” He pulled back and looked down at her, his dark eyes solemn. “But you will have plenty of time to come to love my home as I do, Diana. You will be staying here while I go find Marcus.”

“What?” She jerked out of his arms. “You are leaving me behind?”

“Just until I capture Marcus.”

“I will do no such thing!” Panic streaked through her. “I’m coming with you.”

“I cannot allow that.” He took her shoulders in his hands, but she stepped away from his touch.

“You cannot
allow
that?” Propping her hands on her hips, she glared at him even as her heart pounded with fear. “You have no right to order me about.”

He clenched his jaw. “Oh, but I do. I am captain of this ship, and commander of all aboard…including you.”

Her temper simmered like the fuse on a cannon. “And last night meant nothing to you?”

“Last night has nothing to do with this. I am trying to protect you, Diana.”

“I am not a child who needs to be hidden away while you put yourself in danger.” She tilted her chin. “If you go, then
I
go.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” He crossed his arms and glared at her with what she privately thought of as his ‘captain’ expression. “You asked me to help your father. Very well, I intend to do so. But I need to know that you are safe, or else I will not be able to do what must be done.”

“I am safest with you,” she retorted.

“Not while I am chasing Marcus. You will stay on Besosa. My decision is final.”

Tears stung her eyes. She blinked them back. “You cannot make me stay behind, Alex. Not unless it is by force.”

“If that is how it needs to be.” His expression remained unyielding.

“You would make me a prisoner? After last night?”

“Damn last night, woman! I will not risk your life!”

“But you will risk yours.” She smiled bitterly. “I thought we had reached an understanding. I see I was wrong.”

“Diana…” He took a step toward her, but she turned her back on him.
 

“You don’t trust me, Alex. You treat me like a child.”

“Bloody hell,” he muttered. “Diana, I care about you. I am simply trying to keep you safe.”

She cast him a baleful look over her shoulder. “You care about me so much that you leave me to worry while you risk your own neck. If you had any respect for me, Alex, you would allow me to make the choice myself.”

“I’m sorry.” The regret in his voice pierced her more than his toplofty commands had done. “I cannot do that. If I must bind you like a prisoner to see you safe, then so be it.”

He turned and went to the door, then paused with his hand on the latch. “I have matters to see to ashore. Birk will be your guardian until I return.”

“You mean my jailer,” she corrected.

He sighed. “As you wish.” He left the cabin, closing the door very quietly behind him.

Diana stared after him. She could not believe that the tender lover of the night before had so easily become the autocratic captain with the rising of the sun. He said he left her behind for safety’s sake. Yet she feared not for her own life but for his.
 

She had experienced for herself the terror that was Marcus. She had watched the two men duel, their skills evenly matched. She had even entered the fray when Scroggins sought to stab Alex in the back. If she stayed behind, who would be there for him if such a thing happened again?

It touched her heart that he was trying to protect her. But she had the horrible feeling that if he left her now, she would never see him alive again.

A splash reached her ears, then the sounds of voices and laughter. A rhythmic thumping made her frown in puzzlement. Suddenly she knew. The splash…a longboat? Voices, laughter…the thumping sound had to be the rope ladder tossed over the side. They must be going ashore, she thought.

Urgency seized her. She had to find Alex. She had to convince him to take her with him. Flinging open the door, she hurried to catch him.

The tiny island sat like a jewel in the crown of the Caribbean. Blue-shadowed mountains rose above green hills. White sandy beaches reflected the melon-colored hues of the setting sun. The water near the shore was so clear that a man could see straight to the bottom. Besosa. Home.

Alex inhaled the familiar scents of sea and hibiscus as the two crewmen steered the longboat toward the sandy shore. The entire population of Besosa’s only village cheered and called to him as he got out of the boat and helped the men drag the it through the shallow surf and up onto the beach. It was always thus when El Moreno came back to the island, he thought with fondness. He was their hero, their provider. He supplemented their livelihoods with the spoils of his travels.

He smiled broadly and waved to the people gathered along the beach. They responded with a deafening cheer, and a rush of pleasure surged through him. These were
his
people, men and women who had lived under the protection of the Rawnsleys since his father had first purchased the island some thirty years ago.

Alex had been born on Besosa and had spent his boyhood racing with William along the beaches and exploring the lush jungle of the island. Each boy in turn had been sent off to England at the age of seven for a formal education. William had learned of estates and tenants, and Alex had discovered the sea. He had rarely come back to the island after that, first joining His Majesty’s navy and then sailing the world aboard his own ship.

He had only returned home after Marcus had murdered William.

The people of Besosa had no idea that El Moreno and the new Earl of Rothstone were the same man. It had been so long since anyone had seen him that no one recognized him as the sun-browned youth who had terrorized the village with his boyish pranks.

Many believed El Moreno to be a black sheep relative of the Rawnsleys, a cousin or some such relation. Others thought that El Moreno was enamored of
la
patrona
, their lady, the Countess of Rothstone. The rumors flew and grew more outrageous every time he dropped anchor and went up to the great house to pay his respects.

Alex raised his eyes to the stately manor on the hill. Though the distance was great, he thought he saw someone watching him from one of the windows. She knew he was home, he thought with a smile. She always knew.

A feminine shout made him jerk his head around. He had just enough time to catch the voluptuous young woman as she threw herself into his arms.

“
Querido
, you have returned to me at last.” Her husky voice imbued the Spanish word for ‘darling’ with sensual promise. Ebony hair fell like hot silk over his hands clenched at her waist. Soft, rounded breasts pressed against his chest.

“Rosana.” At a loss, Alex looked down into the hot brown eyes of the woman who had long been his lover.

She gave him a slow smile that once would have warmed his blood. Slyly, she insinuated one slender thigh between his legs. “So you remember me, Moreno.”

He shifted so that she no longer pressed against his loins. “How could I forget?”

She frowned at his retreat and sinuously slid her arms around his neck. “To a man like you, I am just a woman.” Her ruby lips pursed in a provocative pout.

“Never ‘just’ a woman, Rosana.” With his hands on her waist, he managed to put a few inches between them. “I need to speak to you. Soon.”

“Of course,
querido
.” She eyed him like a starving woman at a feast. “Rosana is always here when you want her.” Suddenly she pulled his head down to hers and kissed him intimately.

The crowd roared and men laughed even as Alex tried to free himself from her embrace. They had been lovers for months, and she knew exactly what to do to arouse him. Yet he felt nothing.

He broke the kiss finally and saw the confusion flicker across her face. “We have to talk,” he insisted. “Meet me at the tavern in an hour.”

“I will be there.” She trailed a finger across his lips before sauntering away. Alex watched her, then shook his head, glad he had left Diana aboard ship. All hell would have broken loose if she had witnessed Rosana’s antics.

From the deck of the
Vengeance
, Diana watched the couple embrace. Shaking from shock, she could not seem to take her eyes from the lovers. And lovers they were. Even she, in her relative innocence, recognized it.

McBride saw to the lowering of the boat that would take them to the island. Hearing the commotion, he cast a glance ashore and grinned. “It would seem Rosana hasn’t forgotten the captain,” he said to Birk.

Birk sent him a glare. “Hush up, ye fool,” he hissed. Turning to Diana, he took her hand in his. “Pay nae mind tae what ye see, lassie. Thon wench is nothing tae the captain.”

“I would not agree, Mister Fraser.” Squaring her shoulders, she tried to ignore the pain. “It would seem that I must re-evaluate a few things. Obviously I was not as important to him as I thought.”

“Ye’re daft, woman. Ye mean more tae him than ye ken.”

“No.” She shook her head. “I should have expected this. Of course a man like Alex would have a mistress. It would be foolish to assume that there were no women in his life.”

“He disna want Rosana,” Birk insisted.
 

“I beg to differ, Mister Fraser.” She held up a hand when Birk would have spoken again. “No. I believe I understand the situation quite well.”

Birk muttered something under his breath, but Diana ignored him. She had thought that she and Alex had an understanding, that there was more to their relationship than the physical. Obviously she had been wrong. Rather than cry about it as she longed to do, she pressed her lips together and maintained control. It had been naive of her to assume that one night meant as much to him as it did to her. She would not make that mistake again. After all, it wasn’t as if she had feelings for the rogue…

Her thoughts halted as abruptly as if she had smacked into a stone wall. She loved him. By all the saints, Diana Covington, wealthy heiress and the pride of Port Royal, was in love with a pirate. The truth sparkled in her mind like a diamond, stunning her with its many hues and facets.

As she accepted the truth, strength flowed through her leaden limbs, revitalizing her. Yes, she loved him. She didn’t know his full name or from whence he came, but she loved him. Even though he was a pirate, a wanted man, she loved him. She stood a little straighter and tilted her chin. Alex could kiss all the Spanish strumpets he wanted, but he was going to come to
her
bed that night.

She would see to it.

“I see that sparkle in yer eye, lass,” Birk remarked. She merely smiled, and he shook his head. “A hot Spanish wench and a red-haired Scot fightin’ over the same man. There’s goin’ tae be a ruckus.” He chuckled. “I wouldna want tae be the captain. Then again, mebbe I would.”

Chapter Thirteen

The sounds of the night masked the scrape of the shutters being forced open. Quietly, a man slipped through the window and paused, glancing about the moonlit room. He grinned as he spotted his quarry, then made his way to the ornate bed. Grabbing the mattress with both hands, he lifted it, dumping the occupant to the floor in a flurry of bedclothes.

“What the devil…!” Chilton spluttered and cursed, fighting his way free of the clinging sheets.

“You should not invoke the devil’s name, Peter,” the intruder said, a trace of humor in his voice. He moved to the candle and lit it, then turned so the light played eerie shadows over his face. “Lest he appear.”

“Marcus! Are you mad?” Chilton managed to get to his feet, then dug around in the pile of blankets until he found his nightcap. Plopping it on his nearly bald head, he looked back at the pirate, as if hoping he had imagined his presence. “What are you doing here at such an hour? Do you not realize you could be caught?”

“Only if you betray me, Peter.” Marcus sat down in a nearby chair and withdrew a six-inch blade from its sheath. Examining the knife, he smiled and said, “And you would never do that, would you?”

Chilton swallowed hard. “Of course not. Never.” He turned and scooped the blankets back on to the bed, then hurried to get beneath them, hiding his bare, bony legs from Marcus’s penetrating gaze.

“I did not think so.” Idly, Marcus began to clean his nails with the knife. “We have a problem that we need to discuss.”

“What problem?” His gaze locked on the blade, Chilton clutched the bedclothes with white-knuckled fingers.

“El Moreno has interfered in our plans.”

“El Moreno? What has he done now?”

“He had the temerity to attack my ship and make off with my lovely captive.” Marcus held his hand out, fingers spread wide, to examine his manicure.
 

“You let him take her?” Chilton fisted his hand and pounded on the bed. “Everything is ruined now!”

“Let him?” Marcus repeated in a deadly voice. “
Let
him? I did not
let
him do anything! He damaged my ship. Killed my men. Clapped
me
in irons! And you say I
let
him?”